Art Pulled From MoMA PS1 in Protest of Board Members’ Business Ties Goes on View at an Activist Pop-Up in the Bronx

Artworks by Jananne Al Ani, Phil Collins, and Michael Rakowitz
went on view in the Bronx this weekend as part of a teach-in and
community discussion held by the MoMADivest coalition, a group of
art and activist organizations. All are associated with MoMA PS1’s
current exhibition “Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars
1991-2011.” Collins withdrew his work in protest over a board
member’s ties to private prisons; Rakowitz requested a modification to his work; Al Ani left her
piece in the PS1 show, but lent a work to this satellite event in
solidarity.

Since March, activists have called on MoMA
board member Laurence Fink, CEO of the financial firm BlackRock, to
divest from private, for-profit prisons. They point out that Fink
is the second-largest owner of prison companies CEO Group and Core
Civic, which, they say, hold over two billion dollars in contracts
with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “MoMA and PS1 benefit
from deep links to profits made from war, prisons, fossil fuel
extraction and other forms of dispossession, displacement,
detention and destruction,” says the group.

MoMADivest is calling for Fink to divest from private prisons
and invest in more pro-social causes; the display of artworks at
the event was designed as a metaphor for what the activists are
calling on Fink to do. It was held at the Bronx home of Red de
Pueblos Transnacionales, a network of community groups led by
immigrants from Mexican rural and indigenous communities.

Sophia Garcia and Arianna Reyes, of Sin Fronteras, and Marco
Castillo, of Red de Pueblos Trasnacionales, emceed the event, which
included presentations by criminal justice activists, indigenous
rights activists, and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, among
others.

“People’s lives are at stake,” said Abou Farman, one of the
organizers, in a phone conversation. “This is not just about things
that go on the wall.” The display of the artworks came out of
discussions with the artists, who wanted to contribute to the
activists’ efforts, said Farman, who is an artist and anthropology
professor at New York’s New School. They eventually landed on the
solution of “recirculating” the works, as Farman put it. More such
events are planned for February.

“Already a couple more artists have reached out, wanting to give
something in support,” said Farman. “If other artists also want to
contribute work in solidarity, we’ll take it.”

In a phone conversation, Rakowitz observed that “it’s really
important that they centered the community and the activists. It’s
heartening, and it shows a way forward.”

A MoMA spokeswoman said that “we support everyone’s right to
have their voices heard.”

The post Art Pulled From MoMA PS1 in Protest of Board
Members’ Business Ties Goes on View at an Activist Pop-Up in the
Bronx appeared first on artnet News.